Preface

In the name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful.

“Whatever spoils given by Allah to His Messenger from townspeople belongs to Allah and to the Messenger, and to the nearest of kin, and to the orphans, and the indigent, and the wayfarer, so that it may not circulate amongst the rich of you. And what the Messenger gives you, take it then; but forsake what he forbids you. And venerate Allah, for He is stern in retribution.” Holy Qur'an (59:7)

“Were it my money I would have distributed it among them equally. But it is Allah's.” Imam Ali (a.s.)Imam Ali (a.s.)

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Praise is due to Allah for His explicit and implicit favours. Peace and blessings are on the brilliant light, the giver of good tidings and warnings, our master Muhammad and on his infallible household and the righteous among his companions.

Today, the world appears to becoming more lost in self-generated chaos, economic problems take precedence over all other hardships and haunt the rulers of both the Eastern and Western blocks.

If the West suffers from high unemployment, high inflation ... etc., the East complains of decline in production, shortages in the supply of the basic necessities of life... Both capitalism and socialism, including before being developed into communism, are not only retracting their theoretical slogans and renouncing their doctrinal principles, they are nearly perishing as each are riddled with ambiguities and shortcomings that have failed to address even the most fundamental issues of con-temporary society.

Satellite states, like in the Arab world, have been dominated by the Western democracies and as a result, have been misled in setting up capitalistic systems or they have reluctantly turned tific socialism. The result from both should announce their ideologies, has been only bitter disappointment. Nothing has remained in their hands except the ashes of aping foreigners, which are being scattered by the piercing wind of the Islamic movement.

Both the East and the West have claimed their absolute dependence on the outcome of abstract theories, not only in the fields of material sciences but even in their ideological and philosophical views with regard to the universe, life and man. Each attach the uppermost importance to tangible experiments to prove facts and adopt the ensuing results.

But, contrary to all their claimed developments, the examples of socialism and capitalism in practice have proved to be fiascoes, neither imparting happiness to man nor satisfying his basic needs, both physical and spiritual; in failing to achieve worldwide security or putting an end to global catastrophes, instead cultural erosion and moral collapse, continue to increase unabated, while there has been no sign of pinpointing the root causes of anxiety and psychological misery that is sweeping virtually all nations today.

As the Foundation presents this booklet about economic distribution in Islam, free of charge, it is a single proof of the greatness of Islam and looks forward to the day when humanity will shake worldly dust off, fits communities and become arrayed with celestial robes to walk in the light of Islam, where happiness can be won in both this life and the Hereafter.

“... and to whomever Allah does not give light, he has no light.” Holy Qur'an (24:40)

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